WINE WISDOM: A wine lover's manifesto

Wednesday

May 10, 2017 at 8:00 AM

By Mark P. Vincent, Daily News Correspondent

Webster, who never had the good sense to make wine, defines a manifesto as “a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, and opinions of a person or group.” I suggest it is time for wine lovers the world over to take a stand against wine snobbery, wine abstinence, and all other forms of boorishness, real or perceived. So, I wrote one for you.

I Will Let My Palate (not other’s) Be My Guide. I am my own person with a distinctly unique palate that is solely what determines what I enjoy or dislike. I will like the wines I savor regardless of what they are, what they cost, or what others think. I trust my palate to be my best guide.

I Will Liberate My Palate to Explore. The world of wine is vast and a world of adventure and delight for those willing to explore. I will be open to tasting all wines. In doing so, I will find surprising wines I enjoy immensely.

I Will Not Limit Myself. Sure, I have a budget and preferences, yet I understand there are times that call for exceptions. Then, we need to go out of our comfort zone and try something different or spend a bit more.

I Will Celebrate Life’s Wonderful Moments with Wine. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, life achievement, time spent with a loved one, or any special occasion, I will memorialize the event with a great bottle of wine.

I Will Not Judge A Wine Too Harshly. No winery invests large sums and hard work to deliberately create a bad wine. Perhaps, it wasn’t stored properly or was kept too long, neither the fault of the winemaker. Maybe, it needs more time to develop, or, perhaps, the cork failed. I forgive and open another bottle.

Wine is Often an “Experience of the Moment.” My enjoyment of a wine is heavily influenced by how I feel, where I am, who I am with, what I am eating, and what is going on around me. I know better than to expect just buying another bottle of that wine to enable me to recreate that same experience. Wine magic happens on a serendipitous basis.

I Savor the Memory of a Wine I Enjoyed Immensely. There will be moments when my mood, the company, the food, the wine, the music, the atmosphere - everything at the time - makes the experience and the wine magical. I will savor those times and strive to create new magic in the future.

I Believe Wine and Food Were Made for Each Other. Like many Europeans, I understand meals are ideal with wine. Wine enhances the food and the food enhances the enjoyment of the wine. What a great complement! One, I will partake of regularly.

Wine is Health. Studies show those consuming wine in moderate amounts regularly live longer on average than most other folks. It’s not just the resveratrol in wine, as some maintain; it’s the vast cacophony of hundreds off procyanidins, polyphenols, flavonoids, antioxidants, and other healthy chemical elements in wine that our body uses to maintain and regenerate itself.

I Will Seek Wine Values. My budget is not unlimited, and I always want to stretch it. Buying wines at great prices or finding a wine that drinks like a wine costing twice the price, or more, is my goal.

In Describing Wine, I Will Keep It Simple. It’s verbose and ridiculous to use words and phrases that make no sense or that border on pomposity to describe a wine to my friends and others. My goal in telling someone about a wine is to describe it succinctly and clearly, not confuse them or generate a reaction of “huh?”

I Will Share the Wines I Enjoy with Those I Love. Knowing wine is a creature of the moment, any wine can become good, even great, if we open it and share it with friends, family or someone we love..

Friends, who read this, suggested I omitted one: I Will Open No Wine Before It’s Time. OK I agree with that, which requires me to proclaim, “it’s time, Folks.” Now, open a wine, and enjoy.

Mark P. Vincent is a Worcester resident who has a passion for wine. Contact him at winewisdom@yahoo.com.